New trend for synthesizing of magnetic nanorods with titanomaghemite structure

Abstract

This research aims at developing magnetic and optical materials through fabrication of uniform nanorods by facile and novel technique. In this trend, titanium and iron were successfully combined together forming nanorods without template or high temperature by urea hydrolysis. TEM images showed uniform and homogeneous nanorods with dimensions; 10 nm in width and 50 nm in length. In the same time, fine nanoparticles were observed around the nanorods. With further treatment for the nanorods at high temperature and pressure, FESEM images revealed that the dimensions of the rods slightly increased to be 70 nm in length and 12 nm in width with a complete disappearance of the nanoparticles. Using X-ray diffraction, thermal analyses and infrared spectra in addition to the results of the electron microscopy, the oriented attachment mechanism was suggested for the formation of titanium iron oxides nanorods. The magnetic measurements revealed that the prepared nanorods possess ferromagnetic behavior and exhibit high saturation magnetization. Also, the optical properties showed that the nanorods have high absorption in the visible region and possess low band gap energy. Finally, we concluded that it is probably the first time to prepare nanorods by urea hydrolysis. The advanced optical and magnetic properties give the prepared nanorods relevance to use as building blocks in functional nanoscale devices.